Lithuanian man was the only traveller on a 188-passenger plane to Italy

Skirmantas Strimaitis takes a selfie onboard a Boeing 737-800 airplane, taking off from Vilnius, Lithuania, as the only passenger aboard. Photo / AP

A Lithuanian man flying to Italy last month got a pleasant surprise when he boarded the plane: He was the only passenger on the Boeing 737-800.

Skirmantas Strimaitis, who was flying from the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, to the northern Italian city of Bergamo for a skiing holiday on March 16, had the whole plane — which can seat up to 188 people — all to himself. The only others onboard were two pilots and five crew members.

The Novaturas travel agency said that it had chartered the plane to fly a group home from Italy and that to avoid flying empty, one-way tickets were sold. Only one person bought one.

Strimaitis told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the flight, which lasted more than two hours, was "a once-in-the-lifetime experience".

He shared selfies from his flight where he was seen beaming from ear-to-ear as he settled in to enjoy the spacious, peaceful ride.

In July last year, 28-year-old Saad Jilani was able to get the ultimate private jet experience when was the only person travelling on a flight from Corfu, Greece, to Birmingham, England.

When he boarded the plane that was taking him home from a wedding, Jilani was welcomed by staff who said: "Welcome aboard your private jet, sir."

During his travel, he snapped photos of the flight attendants doing a synchronised safety demonstration before taking a selfie with all of them.

Jilani told The Sun: "The staff were amazing and very excited that I was the only person on the plane with them.

"Even though it was just me and them, they were professional but we did have a laugh and a joke and it was brilliant.

"It's a new route that they are doing so not a lot of people would have known about it yet."

Jilani said it was the best flight of his life and it ended with the pilot announcing: "The eagle has landed."

Latsamy McAdoo from the United States also found herself in the same situation in January last year when hopping to an island in Thailand.

She was shocked to see a member of the cabin crew closing the doors when she had only just boarded the A319 jet.

Like Jilani and Strimaitis, she could sit back and relax with space all around her to settle into her flight from Bangkok to the island of Koh Samui.

She wrote on her Instagram post: "It was exciting and amusing at first. They let me run up and down the aisles, dancing by myself.

'"But then it started to get bumpy, really bumpy. I began to worry that this was some type of Final Destination flight and it was my time to go. Luckily, the pilot was able to land on the island relatively smoothly."

- AP, NZ Herald